Four film documentaries, including one by a gay Muslim and another about terrorism, have been banned from being shown at Singapore's film festival, the censor board said Saturday.

It said the films "exceed the Film Classification Guidelines".

Board of Film Censors chairman Amy Chua said "Arabs and Terrorism" and another film, "David the Tolhildan", were "disallowed on account of their sympathetic portrayal of organisations deemed terrorist organisations by many countries."

Since independence in 1965, Singapore has grown from an underdeveloped country to an Asian economic powerhouse. But critics say this has come at a price, in the form of restrictions on freedom of speech and political activity.

According to the film festival programme, "Arabs and Terrorism" presents a dialogue between right-wing American policymakers and Middle Eastern political factions.

"David the Tolhildan" is about a Swiss man who joins the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the festival said. The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.

Another rejected film, "A Jihad for Love" by gay Muslim film-maker Parvez Sharma, is about homosexual people living within Muslim communities, the festival said. In a statement, Chua said the film was disallowed because of "the sensitive nature of the subject".

Japanese documentary Bakushi, which is about bondage, also failed to get classification because it "normalises unnatural fetishes and behaviour", Chua said.

Festival officials could not be reached for comment but a notice on the its website said "A Jihad for Love" and "Arabs and Terrorism" had been "disallowed". It did not elaborate but said "Arabs and Terrorism" had been set for a sold-out screening on Saturday.

Singapore's government says the city-state has been liberalising but maintains a conservative core.

About 200 films have been classified for the festival which runs until April 14, Chua said.

MySpace is creating a free music Internet service with major recording labels to go head to head with digital giant Apple, whose iTunes has just claimed the crown as world's largest music store.

The leading social networking website on Thursday unveiled MySpace Music, a joint venture with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group.

MySpace Music will build on the News Corporation-owned website's MySpace Music Channel and weave new services into online profile pages of more than five million musicians.

Income methods will include selling digital music downloads buyers can freely copy, along with ring tones for mobile telephones, concert tickets and band merchandise.

"We look to music as an area where we want to do something huge; something historical," MySpace chief operating officer Amit Kapur told AFP.

"We plan to really change the game entirely."

The Music Channel was launched about four years ago and is visited by 30 million people monthly, according to MySpace. The new service will be rolled out in the United States in coming months.

Financial terms of the partnership with recording labels were not disclosed.

MySpace's announcement came as data from industry tracker NPD Group showed that earlier this year iTunes topped retail colossus Wal-Mart as the world's largest music seller.

"We are thrilled," said iTunes vice president Eddy Cue.

Since Apple launched the online digital content store five years ago, iTunes has reportedly sold more than four billion songs and built the most extensive music catalog in the market.

Both announcements confirm a death knell for compact disks as music lovers embrace digital formats for MP3 players such as iPod and Zune, according to Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.

Online retail champion Amazon.com entered the increasingly crowded online digital music market last year. Wal-Mart is among major US retailers that sell music downloads via the Internet.

Media giant Time Warner is considering offering an "all you can eat" music subscription service for five dollars a month, according to Enderle.

"We are undoubtedly going to see more people move to provide the media now that more of these digital players are out there," Enderle told AFP.

"It's a natural for online social networks, because they provide ways to share play lists and songs broadly. It won't be long before Facebook does something like this."

MySpace, a hit with teens, has worked to make itself a platform for musicians famous or obscure to connect with the website's millions of users.

MySpace has woven live concerts into its repertoire. A US concert tour headlining with the French music group Justice wrapped up March 31.

"MySpace is trying to find its niche and maintain relevance," Jason Miklian of Norway said as he and other fans packed into a MySpace Justice show in San Francisco last week.

"MySpace is like a gateway for musicians -- you have to have a presence," he said.

Enderle said he sees MySpace as getting more aggressive about "trying to create some breathing space between them and Facebook," which is in second place but growing at a blistering pace.

The Moon will turn an eerie shade of red for people in the western hemisphere late Wednesday and early Thursday, recreating the eclipse that saved Christopher Columbus more than five centuries ago.

In a lunar eclipse, the Sun, Earth and Moon are directly aligned and the Moon swings into the cone of shadow cast by the Earth.

But the Moon does not become invisible, as there is still residual light that is deflected towards it by our atmosphere. Most of this refracted light is in the red part of the spectrum and as a result the Moon, seen from Earth, turns a coppery, orange or even brownish hue.

Lunar eclipses have long been associated with superstitions and signs of ill omen, especially in battle.

The defeat of the Persian king Darius III by Alexander the Great in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC was foretold by soothsayers when the Moon turned blood-red a few days earlier.

And an eclipse is credited with saving the life of Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1504.

Stranded on the coast of Jamaica, the explorers were running out of food and faced with increasingly hostile local inhabitants who were refusing to provide them with any more supplies.

Columbus, looking at an astronomical almanac compiled by a German mathematician, realised that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504.

He called the native leaders and warned them if they did not cooperate, he would make the Moon disappear from the sky the following night.

The warning, of course, came true, prompting the terrified people to beg Columbus to restore the Moon -- which he did, in return for as much food as his men needed. He and the crew were rescued on June 29, 1504.

The Moon will be in total eclipse from 0301 GMT to 0351 GMT. This will be visible east of the Rocky Mountains in North America, as well as in all of Central and South America, West Africa and Western Europe. The zenith of totality is close to French Guiana.

It will be in partial eclipse from 0143 GMT to 0301 GMT, visible west of the Rockies and from the eastern Pacific, and from 0351 GMT to 0509 GMT, visible across the rest of Africa and Europe and much of South and West Asia.

Under a partial eclipse, Earth's shadow, or umbra, appears to take a "bite" out of the Moon.

The last total lunar eclipse took place on August 28 2007. The next will take place on December 21 2010.

A solar eclipse happens when the Moon swings between the Earth and the Sun.

+ Further details: (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2008.html); (http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=38834); and (http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/15357796.html).

Police in military-run Myanmar have banned DVD vendors from selling the new "Rambo" film about a Vietnam war veteran fighting the junta's soldiers, but that hasn't stopped people from trying to buy it.

"Many customers keep asking about 'Rambo 4' but I dare not to sell it. Police have warned me I could go to jail for up to seven years if I sell the latest Rambo film," said one vendor, who declined to be named.

Another seller said at least 20 customers asked him each day whether he had a copy of "Rambo."

"I don't even know what kind of movie it is. I too want to see it but even among sellers it is very difficult to get copies," he said.

Starring Sylvester Stallone, the blood-splattering follow-up to the classic 1980s film trilogy sees war veteran John Rambo fighting Myanmar forces to rescue captured Christian missionaries helping ethnic Karen villagers.

The film, which portrays Myanmar's military as sadistic and depraved, opened recently in the United States and Singapore against a backdrop of the junta's ongoing persecution of Karen minorities.

Just on Thursday, a top leader of Myanmar's largest Karen rebel group was assassinated at his exile home in Thailand by two gunmen, fueling speculation among Myanmar exiles that Pado Manh Sha could have been killed by the junta.

In Yangon, the banned Rambo film has become one of the most sought-after DVDs, creating underground buzz among movie fans.

"Many people are talking about this movie, but I cannot buy it anywhere," complained a 30-year-old business man, who declined to be identified. He said he also tried several times to download the film from the Internet.

"I have asked a DVD seller where I can buy the movie, but he told me I can buy anything -- including banned porn videos from India, China, Japan and South Korea -- but not 'Rambo 4'," he shrugged.

One 45-year-old pro-democracy activist was among a lucky few to watch it.

"I watched the movie at home with my family, and gave it to my friends because I wanted them to see it," he said.

"I like the movie very much because Rambo fought against Myanmar soldiers," said the activist, who declined to be named. He refused to say how he had obtained the copy.

In Myanmar, sales of pirated DVDs, mostly from neighbouring China, are illegal, but police rarely crack down on the thriving street business.

One DVD disc costs around 1,500 kyats (1.25 dollars) at roadside shops. South Korean soap operas and Hollywood blockbusters are among the most popular.

For 25-year-old university student Mu Mu, the latest Rambo holds no appeal -- her choice is South Korean dramas.

"I am not interested in watching 'Rambo.' I am only interested in buying Korean drama series," she said.

"Thanks to China, we can buy easily DVDs at a low price," Mu Mu said.

Vendors said there were some Rambo copies smuggled from Singapore, but said the audio and video quality was not good. They advise eager Myanmar customers to wait for pirated DVDs from China.

"Once this movie hits China, I think there will be a way for us to see it with much better quality," one vendor said.

Malaysian police Saturday fired teargas and water cannons to disperse ethnic Indians clutching flowers and gathered in the capital, in the latest crackdown on public protests, witnesses said.

Some 300 people defied a police ban and attempted to gather in Independence Square in downtown Kuala Lumpur to protest alleged discrimination, before police moved in, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

"It is an embarrassing attack on the Indian community and on people who just wanted to hand over flowers to the prime minister," said R. Thanenthiran, one of the rally organisers.

The flower protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations in recent that have rocked the multicultural nation, which is now gearing up for general elections on March 8.

More than 20 people were detained, police said, after supporters of Indian rights group Hindraf turned up near Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square. Police had earlier refused a permit for the gathering.

Indian youths dressed in saffron coloured t-shirts with the Tamil words "Makkal Sakti", or People's Power, chanted slogans calling for justice and an end to alleged discrimination against ethnic Indians in the country.

More than 200 police approached the crowd before spraying them with water cannons and firing tear gas shells above their heads, the AFP correspondent witnessed.

"We wanted to have 200 children also peacefully give Abdullah flowers but we were tear-gassed and water-cannoned by police," Thanenthiran said, referring to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Thanenthiran said organisers decided it was unsafe for the children to take part in the protest and they were bused away from the scene.

"We came with a gesture of peace and love and the Malaysian government did not have the courage to accept the roses," Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy told AFP. Prime minister Abdullah had not indicated before the protest that he would accept the flowers.

The protest comes after the detention of five Hindraf leaders who enraged the government in November by leading a mass rally protesting alleged discrimination against minority Indians.

The protest highlighted the grievances of Malaysia's Indians -- descendents of labourers brought over by British colonial rulers in the 1800s -- who say they are marginalised in terms of education, wealth and opportunities.

Abdullah has said that street protests and anger within the Indian community could have an impact on how the government fares in the general elections.

Abdullah is head of the United Malays National Organisation-led coalition government of race-based parties that have ruled Malaysia since it gained its independence from British rule in 1957.

Although Abdullah's party is expected to win the March election, analysts say a slew of issues including rising prices, corruption and religious as well as racial tensions could cut the government's majority in parliament.

Ethnic Indians make up 7 percent of Malaysia's 27 million population with Malay Muslims forming 60 percent and ethnic Chinese at 26 percent.

President George W. Bush has directed a US warship to shoot down an out-of-commission spy satellite before it crashes to Earth, senior US officials said Thursday.

"The president directed the Department of Defense to carry out the intercept" after concluding that it would help prevent loss of life from the uncontrolled descent, said Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey.

Jeffrey and other senior officials said the risk posed by an estimated 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, a toxic propellant, aboard the schoolbus-sized satellite was a key factor in the decision.

They denied that it was driven by the desire to protect the highly classified satellite's secrets, or that the shoot-down was intended to demonstrate a US anti-satellite defense capability.

China drew worldwide protests after it shot down a weather satellite in low Earth orbit January 2007.

The United States has never shot down a spacecraft in space before, but its missile defense system is designed to intercept incoming warheads in space.

"Our objective here was to reduce the risk. Could we reduce the risk to space platforms, to airborne platforms, and to terrestrial platforms -- the earth, cities, people, etcetera?" said General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A US Aegis warship will fire a single modified SM-3 missile at the spy satellite in hopes of scoring a direct hit on a tank carrying the hydrazine, Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He said the plan is to hit the satellite at a point in its orbit where any debris will quickly fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere over the ocean.

"And that's our objective: get rid of the hydrazine and have this fall in the ocean," Cartwright said.

The soonest that the intercept will take place is in three or four days, but the window will remain open for seven or eight days, Cartright said.

Three Aegis warships will be on station with two back-up missiles in case there is a problem with the launch of the first missile.

"We will have radars and space sensors pointed at the area so that we have some sense of whether we were successful or not," he said.

"In the case that we're not successful with the first shot, we'll reassess," he said.

But as the satellite moves across the Earth, the chances increase that an intercept will bring debris down over land, Cartwright said, adding "we're not going to shoot if that's the case."

"What we're looking for is to catch it here very close to the earth's surface. What we're shooting for, nominally, is about 130 miles (210 kilometers) up," he said.

He said about half the debris will come down in the first two revolutions if the intercept is successful, but it could take longer than a month for some of the smaller debris to come down.

"But it's a very finite period of time that we can manage, and it's in an area where we don't have satellites manned or unmarked; in other words, down very low," he said.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin said the space shuttle Atlantis will have finished its space mission and have landed before the intercept.

"This missile is designed, of course, for other missions, but we concluded it could be reconfigured, both the missile and other systems related to it, on a one-time reversible basis to do the shot," Jeffrey said.

Asked why this intercept was any different than the Chinese anti-satellite test, Cartwright said the United States was notifying the international community beforehand and was conducting the intercept near the edge of space.

Griffin said the Chinese test was conducted against a satellite in a circular orbit at around 530 miles (850 kilometers) of altitude, creating a debris field that could remain for decades over a large swathe of orbital space.